Egyptian director Sameh Alaa's I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face is among 11 short films in the running for the Palme d'Or, the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival.
The official selection was made from a total of 3,810 films from 137 different countries, the festival announced on its website.
"Happy to announce that our new short film I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face will have its world premiere at the 73rd Festival de Cannes, as part of the Short Films Competition," Alaa wrote on his Instagram account.
The 15-minute film stars Seif Eldin Hemida and Nourhan Ali Abdelazez, although little is known about the plot.
While the 73rd Cannes Film Festival has been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the short film competition is set to take place next autumn at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.
The exact date and the names of the jury members have not yet been announced. The Cannes Film Festival has been pushed to next year and is scheduled to take place between Tuesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 22 in 2021.
Organisers did, however, release a 56-strong list of movies that would have premiered at the prestigious 2020 event, including two Arabic films by regional filmmakers.
Broken Keys by Jimmy Keyrouz and Souad by Ayten Amin are among the 56 films to have been selected by festival organisers. The selected films will now feature the Cannes logo when they open in cinemas and other festivals taking place this year.
Official Selection of Short Films in Competition
- I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face by Sameh Alaa (Egypt/France/Belgium/Qatar)
- Blue Fear by Marie Jacotey and Lola Halifa-Legrand (France)
- Motorway65 by Evi Kalogiropoulou (Greece)
- Sudden Light by Sophie Littman (UK)
- Son of Sodom by Theo Montoya (Colombia/Argentina)
- Camille, Contactless by Paul Nouhet (France)
- The Lamb of God by David Pinheiro Vicente (Portugal/France)
- Mountain Cat by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir Chir (Mongolia/UK)
- Benjamin, Benny, Ben by Paul Shkordoff (Canada)
- Stephanie by Leonardo Van Dijl (Belgium)
- David by Zachary Woods (USA)
